Government employees love the opportunity to cash out with early retirement programs. Who wouldn’t want to retire early and get a bonus for doing so?
There are times when it makes sense for a government to implement such a program. That’s usually the case only where the government is looking to permanently downsize and they don’t want to have to fire people.
Early retirement is a way to incentivize longer tenured, higher-paid employees to leave government with the intention of never refilling that position.
In these cases, it’s worth incentivizing the employee to leave because once the bonus is paid, there’s no longer any salary or health benefits made for that employee. It’s a net plus for the taxpayer.
But what happens when we give a bonus for the employee to leave and then turn around and hire another employee to do the same job? Ultimately, that’s a net loss for taxpayers. The unions will claim it is great because you’re replacing the higher-paid individual with a lower-paid entry-level worker.
That’s true, but you’re also going to be paying a pension for that retired employee, along with benefits and other perks. That doesn’t even mention the cash payout to these employees for their unused sick and vacation time, which — for many employees, especially law enforcement personnel — can range into the six figures.
So, questions should be asked of Nassau County: why did they implement this early retirement program? Do they intend to keep those positions vacant? If that’s the case, we support them wholeheartedly. But if they’re going to turn around and hire new people anyway for those jobs, they cannot tell the public that this is a cost-saving measure.
They might be able to show savings for a year or two but, in the long term, it’s a loser.